Sweet Chili-Lime Tofu with Spinach and Quinoa

 The other day I decided to look around for new ways to use the dry fried tofu and happened upon this. It looked fabulous, and I was heading to work that day, so I asked Aubrey if she'd be willing to prepare it for dinner. She LOVES tofu prepared the dry fry way and is quite good at using the method herself. She agreed to give it a shot. Back a few posts, you'll find the directions on how to dry fry tofu, a most excellent way to prepare it.

That evening she prepared the tofu and the sauce, and I cooked up the quinoa. In my hurry, I didn't pay attention to the fact that the quinoa was to be cooked with the spices in the pan, so I had to hurry and add them in at the very end. It was still delicious, but next time I'll know better. And next time we'll know to add about HALF the chili flakes in the sauce!

Nevertheless, it was so flavorful, and I adored the spicy lime-ness of it all. When we have it again (which will be soon!), I will make the sauce first, then wrap the spinach rolls, then start the quinoa,so it can just do it's thing while I monitor the tofu, which has to be constantly attended to. Did you catch that? I'll rearrange the order of things in the recipe so they make more sense (at least to me).

Sweet Chili-Lime Tofu with Spinach and Quinoa

Ingredients

1 lb. block of extra firm tofu

Sauce:
3 T sugar (we used turbinado, but agave, honey, and/or stevia would work)
2 T soy sauce or liquid aminos
2 T teriyaki sauce (or just use more soy sauce)
6-8 mint leaves, thinly chopped
2 t chili flakes (I plan to use 1/2 this next time!)
1 t chili sauce
1 clove of garlic, crushed and very finely chopped
½ inch ginger, very finely chopped
¼ zest of the lime (do twice as much and divide it; you'll need it for the quinoa, too)
2 T lime juice, freshly squeezed (squeeze more, you'll need it for spinach and quinoa)
¼ t salt 

Spinach:
2-3 packed cups of baby spinach
Pinch of salt
1 t lime juice

Quinoa:
¾ cup quinoa, rinsed in cool water and drained
¼ zest lime
½ tbsp lime juice
2 green cardamom, lightly crushed
½ inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp salt
1-1¼ cups water

Directions:

Start with draining the tofu, following these directions. While it's draining, proceed as follows.

Sauce:
Combine all the ingredients listed. Whisk the sauce till all the sugar and salt is dissolved. Se it aside.


Spinach:
Stack the spinach leaves one above the other and roll them. Slice the roll into 1 inch segments. Repeat same procedure till you get 2-3 tightly packed cups of spinach. Set in dish so that they're in tight against each other to hold them together. Set aside.


Quinoa:
Combine all the ingredients in a thick bottomed pot with tight fitting lid. Bring it to a boil, then cover and reduce the flame to low. Cook undisturbed for around 15-20 mins and turn off the heat. Let it sit covered for about 10 mins so that the steam is retained.

Tofu:
Cut and dry fry your drained tofu.Then heat a medium sauce pan on the stove, add the sauce you prepared and let it bubble up. Switch off the heat and let the sauce reduce and form a glaze. Make sure that the sauce is bubbling up nicely before you switch off the heat. Stir the tofu into the sauce.

Cook spinach:
Heat wok and add spinach, lime juice and salt. You can add about a tbsp of water if required. Cover and cook for 1-2 mins. Remember you don’t need to cook it thoroughly, just soften it some so that the greens are still a little crunchy.


Now for the fun and easy part!
Place cooked quinoa on a serving dish and arrange steamed spinach on top. Place saucy tofu on spinach, drizzling extra sauce on top.

Serve immediately and ENJOY!!!